VMware's management client for iPad awaits Apple approval

The delayed client was originally to be released last year

VMware is waiting for Apple to approve a software client for iPads that will allow IT staff to manage their virtualized environments.

The vCenter client was handed to Apple "fairly recently," said Fredrik Sjöstedt, VMware's director of product and solutions marketing in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He wouldn't say whether that meant this month or last. VMware doesn't know when the client will be approved, and so can't say when it will be made available to users, he said.

VMware CTO Steve Herrod first promised the app would arrive before the end of 2010, in a speech at the VMworld Europe conference in October. That release date was reiterated in a Youtube clip from the company.

The tablet version of the vCenter client won't offer all the management features currently available on the desktop client. Instead, it has been designed from the ground up for Apple's iPad and will have features IT staff are most likely to use while on the road.

They'll be able to see the status of virtual machines and whether there are any alerts, Herrod said at VMworld Europe. The Youtube clip also shows app having the ability to suspend, stop or restart a virtual machine, and to show its memory and CPU use.

VMware is pushing the combination of virtualization and smartphones or tablets on several fronts. Last week, the company launched the View Client for iPad, which allows users of Apple's tablet to access virtual Windows desktops on the device.

On Tuesday, View was the second most popular iPad application in the Business category in the App Store, eclipsed only by Citrix's Receiver client, which also lets users access virtual Windows desktops.

VMware is also continuing its efforts to put virtualization on smartphones. In February, at Mobile World Congress, the company demonstrated its upcoming platform. It will allow users run a personal profile and a separate, secure profile for work applications on the same Android-based smartphone. The company first entered the space by acquiring Trango Virtual Processors in 2008.